“Three Men in a Boat” is basically a travelogue. Yet it has a universal appeal.

The story is quirky for the time. The comical incidents as the men (and the dog) take a supposedly leisurely boat trip up the River Thames, gives us the kind of dry Brit humour that we love so much. It kind of reminded me of an early Monty Python sort of idea. Three buddies on an ill-fated camping trip has universal appeal no matter where the reader is from.